"everything goes, nothing goes": these societies often contain an extreme dichotomy of rules (some things are completely restricted whereas some are completely free)
satirical: the author often exaggerates aspects of society, politics, religion, etc. and uses humor to criticize them
futuristic: the societies are set in the future, but often a not-too-distant future, to emphasize the novel's impact as a warning to our current real world society
Films related thematically to Brave New World (through dystopian conventions or any of the ethical/scientific questions posed in the film) Moon : If you like weird sci-fi movies that creep you out, make you think, and throw in a twist, you'll like this one. I'd tell you how it relates to BNW, but I'd be ruining a big part of the movie's twist (also one of the creepiest, most memorable backing songs I can remember in recent years). Gattaca: The ethics of a not-too-distant future where genetic selection is a reality.
D.H.C. = stands for "Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning." The character that opens the novel and explains the tour of the Fertilizing Rooms.
Hypnopaedia = "Sleep-teaching." Used by the World State to condition the people to be "happy" with their social roles and encourage aversion to behaviors that don't support the World State either socially or commercially (babies of lower castes conditioned to hate flowers and books so that they don't waste time reading or with nature, when they could be spending money and working instead). Based on real-life psychological concept of Classical Conditioning (Pavlov's Dogs experiment, for example).
Pneumatic:
the actual real world definition means something that is filled with air (like a pneumatic tube). In the World State, it's taken on a different meaning and a positive connotation; it's a positive term to refer to an attractive quality of a woman, as in, "I like Lenina; she's very pneumatic." Consider the satirical point of taking a word that means "full of air" and using it to a woman in a positive way. (In other words, it's like calling her an airhead, but it's taken on a positive connotation because that is what is valued of women in this society: don't learn and don't question.)
"A gramme is better than a damn.": phrase taught in regards to soma. In other words, taking a gram of soma is better than being upset, angry, or "giving a damn."
"Ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches.": phrase taught to promote consumerism/materialism. In other words, it's better to throw old things out and buy new than it is to repair them. And wearing old clothing shows that you're poor.
Notable Quotes/Passages
Chapter 1:
"'And that, put in the Director sententiously, 'that is the secret of happiness and virtue--liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny'" (16).
Chapter 2:
"A love of nature keeps no factories busy" (23).
"Moral education, which ought never, in any circumstances, to be rational" (26).
"Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid..." (27-28).
Chapter 3:
"Ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches" (49).
"There were some things called the pyramids, for example...And a man called Shakespeare. You've never heard of them of course...Such are the advantages of a really scientific education" (51).
"All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects...Take a holiday from reality whenever you like, and come back without so much as a headache or a mythology" (54).
Chapter 4:
Look at p. 67, from "Yes, a little too able..." to "Helmholtz Watson had also become aware of his difference from the people who surrounded him." What similarities and differences exist between Bernard and society? Helmholtz and society? Between Bernard and Helmholtz?
Helmholtz: "Did you ever feel,' he asked, 'as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out? Some sort of extra power that you aren't using...I sometimes get, a feeling that I've got something important to say and the power to say it--only I don't know what it is, and I can't make any use of the power...It's not enough for the phrases to be good; what you make with them ought to be good too" (69).
Brave New World: Online Text
Brave New World Group Reciprocal Teaching Rubric.doc
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Brave New World Revisited (by Huxley, in 1958)Huxley.net
BNW Wikipedia Page: Good resource for film, music, and literature connections. (Rumors of a 2011 Leo DiCaprio film)
Brave New World on TVTropes: Probably only interesting to dorks, geeks, and/or nerds, but VERY interesting to dorks, geeks, and/or nerds (I include myself in at least one of those categories).
Dystopian Conventions
Films related thematically to Brave New World (through dystopian conventions or any of the ethical/scientific questions posed in the film)
Moon : If you like weird sci-fi movies that creep you out, make you think, and throw in a twist, you'll like this one. I'd tell you how it relates to BNW, but I'd be ruining a big part of the movie's twist (also one of the creepiest, most memorable backing songs I can remember in recent years).
Gattaca: The ethics of a not-too-distant future where genetic selection is a reality.
Brave New Worldipedia
Terms
Bokanovsky's Process
D.H.C. = stands for "Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning." The character that opens the novel and explains the tour of the Fertilizing Rooms.
Hypnopaedia = "Sleep-teaching." Used by the World State to condition the people to be "happy" with their social roles and encourage aversion to behaviors that don't support the World State either socially or commercially (babies of lower castes conditioned to hate flowers and books so that they don't waste time reading or with nature, when they could be spending money and working instead). Based on real-life psychological concept of Classical Conditioning (Pavlov's Dogs experiment, for example).
Pneumatic:
the actual real world definition means something that is filled with air (like a pneumatic tube). In the World State, it's taken on a different meaning and a positive connotation; it's a positive term to refer to an attractive quality of a woman, as in, "I like Lenina; she's very pneumatic." Consider the satirical point of taking a word that means "full of air" and using it to a woman in a positive way. (In other words, it's like calling her an airhead, but it's taken on a positive connotation because that is what is valued of women in this society: don't learn and don't question.)
Common Phrases
Community, Identity, Stability.
"A gramme is better than a damn.": phrase taught in regards to soma. In other words, taking a gram of soma is better than being upset, angry, or "giving a damn."
"Ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches.": phrase taught to promote consumerism/materialism. In other words, it's better to throw old things out and buy new than it is to repair them. And wearing old clothing shows that you're poor.
Notable Quotes/Passages
Chapter 1:
- "'And that, put in the Director sententiously, 'that is the secret of happiness and virtue--liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny'" (16).
Chapter 2:- "A love of nature keeps no factories busy" (23).
- "Moral education, which ought never, in any circumstances, to be rational" (26).
- "Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid..." (27-28).
Chapter 3:- "Ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches" (49).
- "There were some things called the pyramids, for example...And a man called Shakespeare. You've never heard of them of course...Such are the advantages of a really scientific education" (51).
- "All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects...Take a holiday from reality whenever you like, and come back without so much as a headache or a mythology" (54).
Chapter 4:Brave New World Teaching Groups